


In Stasis

by thesaddestboner



Series: in the shadows [3]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Angst, Detroit Tigers, Gen, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-10
Updated: 2010-11-10
Packaged: 2017-10-14 03:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesaddestboner/pseuds/thesaddestboner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It’s Family Day and Rick fucking hates it.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Stasis

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short little scene set in the not-so-distant future in my girl!Porcello “ ‘verse”. Sigh. I may end up going back and retconning this at a later date. Thanks to [**learnthemusic**](http://learnthemusic.livejournal.com/) for the beta and advice. 8D
> 
> You can find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/thesaddestboner) and [tumblr](http://saddestboner.tumblr.com).

Rick sits on a tattered blanket in the thick grass and holds his hands in his lap. Max is shagging balls in the outfield with Verlander’s young son Ricky - even though he was named after Verlander’s dad, Richard, it’s still kind of weird - while Verlander watches on, chest swelling with fatherly pride.

Rick looks away and twists a thin gold ring round and round on his thumb.

Happy, carefree shouts fill the air, rising toward the sky like prayer. Emily, Verlander’s wife, is on one knee in the grass with a disposable camera in hand, a big smile causing her eyes to crinkle at the corners. Little Ricky toddles around on short, chubby legs, screeching happily and waving the baseball he’s managed to steal away from Max.

It’s Family Day and Rick fucking hates it. Seeing his teammates - former teammates now, he supposes - with their families just reminds him of all he’s lost.

Max catches his eye just then and smiles, a slight twitch of the lips upward. Rick finds himself smiling back a little even though he isn’t sure he means it.

Perry arrives last, of course. Rick would expect nothing less from the team’s newly anointed closer. Vanessa wears her designer sunglasses like a headband to hold her hair off her face, and she just looks bored with everything. Rick’s eyes drift to the hand she caresses over her pregnant belly; an expensive looking diamond ring flashes on her finger. That’s new.

Perry wraps Vanessa’s free hand in his and tugs her around, chattering a mile a minute. Rick closes his eyes, fingers wrapped around his thumb, and prays Perry gets trapped in an endless conversation with Verlander about the latest sexy European sports car he’s got his eye on, or the upcoming All-Star Game in Kansas City. He really doesn’t want to deal with Perry any more than he has to. It’s just too hard to look his former best friend in the eye now.

It’s even harder seeing him now, with Vanessa pregnant and glowing. Perry’s moving on and even looks happy now, less haunted. They’re all moving on, slowly but surely. Rick’s throat burns and his chest aches, and he swallows it down.

Max catches his eye again; he looks from Perry and Vanessa back to Rick and inclines his head toward them briefly, before quirking his eyebrows at Rick in question. Rick tries to put on a brave face but he’s pretty sure he fails because then Max is breaking away from the smiling Verlander clan - a quote Rick remembers reading somewhere, once, rings loudly in his mind like a bell: _Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way._ \- and making his way over to Rick.

He plops heavily on his back in the grass beside Rick and tilts his head up toward him. “You okay?”

Rick looks down at him, shrugs. “I guess. Perry’s here.”

“I saw.” Max rolls onto his side and props his chin in his hand. “You don’t have to stay if -”

“Don’t you think it’d look kind of weird if that girlfriend of yours nobody really likes suddenly disappeared- ” Rick winces at the choice in words “- the second Perry showed up.”

Max closes his hand over Rick’s bare knee. His fingers and palm are warm on Rick’s skin. “They like you.”

“I overheard Emily Verlander calling me ‘Max’s bitchy girlfriend’ a while back,” Rick says, rolling his eyes.

Max squeezes Rick’s knee. “She’s the bitch.”

“Everyone takes her word as the Gospel around here, though,” Rick mutters, darkly. He leans back and plants his hands in the grass. “Rachel and Vanessa and Coke’s flavor of the month - Cindy, Sydney, whatever the fuck her name is - worship the ground she walks on.”

“Sandy,” Max corrects, rubbing his thumb over the knobby curve of Rick’s knee. “It’s not as bad as you think. They do like you.”

“How would _you_ know? Do you hang out in the W.A.G. section regularly,” Rick quips, glancing down at the top of Max’s head.

“Nah. I just hear things, is all,” he says, turning his face back up at Rick. He smiles at Rick, a genuine, face-splitting smile, and slides his hand away from his knee.

“Oh?”

“Shani said -”

“Shani loves everybody though. And she’s the town gossip. She doesn’t count,” Rick laughs, feeling his sour mood begin to dissipate. Max tends to have that affect on him for some reason.

“She just has good taste.” Max sits up and crosses his legs Indian-style, resting his arms over his knees. A faint wind ruffles his light hair and Rick reaches out to flatten it down over his forehead. Max grins at him.

“What?” Rick asks, smoothing his fingers through Max’s hair.

“Nothing.” Max laughs.

“Weirdo.” Rick shakes his head a little and pulls his hand back.

“Yup, that’s me.” Max sighs and sprawls out on his back, arms and legs spread out wide like he’s making a snow angel.

Rick draws his knees to his chest and begins twisting the ring on his thumb again. “You’re lucky I like weirdos.” Rick feels a small smile tug at the corners of his lips.

Max smiles back. “Yeah, I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> The author of this piece intends no insult, slander, or copyright infringement, and is not profiting from this work. This story is a complete work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect on the nature of the individuals featured. This is for entertainment purposes only. If you found this story while Googling your name or the names of your friends, hit the back button now.


End file.
